I’m not hearing it, and I say this as a British person! :-) The voice over is far too posh in OTC for Oliver’s more… ‘eclectic’ midlands accent.
Another Brit here. Certainly not the same accent.
I was going with the pitch/tone more than the accent, which I’m far from an expert on. I’ll happily defer to any Brit on the regional accent question, and would honestly rather just concede the point entirely if I’m the only one who seems to have this opinion.
Maybe a bit late, but the Patron and the Patriot DLC is 50% off on Steam for another 44 minutes.
Thanks Brakara - got it just in time. Been wanting to jump back in and it looks like this really expands the single-player experience.
Anyone know of a decent general strategy guide? Last I played I could do ok as long as I was at a lower level than the AIs, but the moment I tried to play without those benefits (can’t remember the name of the level where you are at parity with the AI), I couldn’t ever figure out how to get my economy moving.
Can you give an example of what you would try to do at the start of a game (what HQ you want, where you found, what you build)? I’d be happy to write something up for you later today if you can give a quick rundown if your first moves or your mindset at the beginning of a round. Otherwise, I can get you some reference material for possible basic openings but that’ll be less specific and probably less helpful.
I played a couple of the Blue Chip scenarios this weekend. I like the mode; it’s got a bit of a puzzle aspect to it, and it also acts as good training for multiplayer (which I really should try to get back into).
At least the scenarios I played so far did not have any special rules or win conditions. They just started with a very specific setup that you needed to take maximum advantage of. For example:
- In the first scenario all 4 players start with a level 3 HQ. But all the opponents start with their production already laid out, while you have no buildings and a dozen claims to use as you see fit. So the thing it’s trying to teach you is to figure out what to build given the production the other players are locked into at least temporarily. (It won’t stay that way forever; after that they’ll play as normal AI and will definitely diversify into those industries). I failed this the first time around; I found some of the profit that was just lying around, but missed the biggest chunk. I didn’t verify this, but the opponents might start with a small advantage such that just playing a “normal” game would not be enough. You really need that edge.
- The second scenario is two players, both starting with level 2 HQs and all their production built. The gimmick is that you have locked the other player out from Silicon completely. And the question is how to actually exploit that monopoly. I never was any good at that in multiplayer, so this was a good exercise.
Also, since nobody told what pressing “X” actually does… Basically it’s the biggest quality of life improvement imaginable in this game. It overlays each building (your or the opponents’) with its net profit. Just get into the habit of doing it once a minute, and marvel at how often industries you thought were core are actually marginal. I hope the tutorials have been changed to make new players use it at least once, because this should be an amazing way to build up an intuition about how often to rejig production :)
My favorite Blue Chip map so far was one where your three opponents have already founded and upgraded before you even land, but you start with a stack of black market items you can use to undercut them all and buy time to catch up.
There’s also a very silly one where you found with $12K in extra cash but $80K in debt and you are forbidden from buying stock with a D bond rating. Everyone founds scientific and chaos ensues.
Okay, I’d somehow missed this game. but after all the discussion on the Qt3 Awards topic I’ve got to pick it up. It’s on sale for just $13.59 through 2/20.
The bundle is on sale too, for $36.38. But not sure that’s a great deal for me, as I know I won’t listen to the soundtrack, I’m not going to make maps, and I’m sure I’ll only play single-player.
For a newbie to the game, what’s recommendation:
- Play the base game first without adding complexity
- Play the base game + certain add-ons that make it even better, even if they add complexity.
2a:) If #2 is the option, which add-ons should a newbie get?
TIA!
Base game has enough meat on it, just get that. :)
If you’re not buying the full set, you don’t get a discount so there’s no point in feeling pressured to pick up the individual DLC until later, when you actually know if you want any. Ceres Initiative, Blue Chip Ventures and The Patron and the Patriot are the three you should consider for single player content but there’s no rush if you don’t want the Gold pack.
The free Almanac DLC is a guide which is a pdf file that’s located in the installation folder. It’s also accessible here:
The link was posted by one of the developers in a Steam thread:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/271240/discussions/0/364040166681453499/
There’s also lots of Youtube videos out there. And you can also learn by watching experienced players streaming, like the one on the Stardock twitch channel (streaming right now actually):
You can also follow the games channel:
I appreciate the offer Otagan - it’s been long enough that I can’t even remember which HQs I focused on, much less opening moves. I’m going to jump back in tonight and I’m sure a lot will come back to me.
I just remember doing fine through the story missions, but once I’d try skirmishes at the first no bonuses difficulty level, I quickly realized I didn’t really understand the game. I tried watching the AIs at the same difficulty level and how they would manage debt to build their economies, but somehow I couldn’t figure out how to achieve the same thing. I’d enter into a death spiral and never recover.
I’ll definitely check out the videos Brakara. Thanks for the links!
I found some video tutorials as well:
And I’m actually in the same boat as you, tpenland, as I just started playing the game this weekend.
Sweet! It really is a blast of a game and the campaign is a great way to introduce you to the game. It just seemed like it only got you to a certain point - which really is fine. Figuring out advanced strategies on your own is part of the fun. Once I get back to the point where I was falling down I’ll give some more details.
A big issue a lot of players have is balancing the inherent, drilled-in nature of a gamer (especially anyone who played an Anno-style strategy game) to ensure that you have access to all of the resources in the game. The temptation is there to spend early claims securing the best resources on the map for later, when you need them. Silicon and carbon, in particular, aren’t needed at the very beginning of the game in many circumstances, but there are usually only a few high deposits of those on the map and having one is really nice in the late game.
The problem is that the most important resource in the early game is money. Cash-in-hand. While your first few claims need to go toward whatever you need in order to upgrade (steel/carbon, aluminum), your next claims need to go toward making money. You don’t need to secure water, carbon and silicon right away unless it is unusually beneficial. You don’t need to set up the trinity of power, food and oxygen production to stabilize your life support expenses until later. You need to double down on one thing that is going to generate cash and keep you moving forward. Getting out of HQ levels 2 and 3 is important because you begin to hit critical mass around HQ4, where you finally have enough claims that you can feel comfortable addressing most of your needs while still having enough production that earns you money. Specializing is extremely important due to the production bonuses for adjacency, and if that means having some negative numbers in your life support totals and a building pile of debt, that’s okay. You can always pay that back later after you get established.
Never getting established in the first place is the alternative. Living with debt doesn’t matter as much when you can make twice as much money as your competitors.
I think the points @Otagan makes relate to the mixed nature of the reviews @vyshka noticed: lots of players seem to expect a builder sort of game (which it can be, if shallow, at the lower difficulties in single player, with all those extra claims) while the game is much simpler in essence: your single and only goal is to make money, be it by exploiting the situation, planning ahead or creating situations (the fabled monopoly…) where you will make it.
If I had a single advice, it is that when you stop exploiting a resource because it is going incredibly cheap and not worth the investment, you watch it very carefully and at the first hint of it picking up, get back into it. There is a “yo-yo” trend (for absolutely rational reasons) and when prices go crazy, the momentum required to switch production create windows of opportunities for profits for those who anticipate them.
This paragraph is arguably the steepest part of Offworld Trading Company’s learning curve. It’s also fundamental to understanding the game.
-Tom
btw, if you want to get into more depth with the game, the community hangs out here and loves to help new players:
For those who are hesitating to get the latest DLC, Blue Chip Ventures: get it!
I have spent about 5 hours on the first two of them: they are really in-depth tutorials about complex concepts, and if you are like me, you will learn so much playing them and getting familiarized with the situations.
This is the best DLC to Offworld Trading Company yet in my opinion - probably so essential if you are into multiplayer it should be included in the base game.